


If You Like It Or Not

by DivergentLunarShadowhunter



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Crack, Forced Soulmates, Gen, M/M, Meet-Cute, Weird Plot Shit, another accurate tag i didn't know existed, but not really, i like that tag i didn't know it was a tag until now, maybe a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 10:32:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17599628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivergentLunarShadowhunter/pseuds/DivergentLunarShadowhunter
Summary: If you've ever thought about what an Anti-AU might be like, I've got one for you right here.Everyone dreams of the perfect way they will meet their soulmate. Every meet-cute scenario, played out in daydreams and musings about who they will fall in love with.But not Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak. Not until they start living every single one of them, meeting each other over and over on the streets of Boston in increasingly strange scenarios.It seems like something (or someone) is trying to push them together, and wants Cas and Dean to be soulmates...whether they like it or not.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Not as serious as the summary makes it sound. Basically Dean and Cas keep bumping into each other, but neither of them knows whether they're prepared to let anything happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title & chapter quotes from a song by The Brobecks

**_Try to shut your eyes, and this won't hurt one bit._ **

**_See I cannot tell a lie, you just might even like me to quit._ **

**_~_ **

 

“ _Seriously_?” Dean groaned. “Couldn’t have thought of anything more creative?” Slowly extracting himself from the mountain of cake that surrounded him, he brushed at the sticky frosting on his jacket to no avail. He glared up at the sky. “This is my favorite jacket, you assholes!”

The man holding the remains of the towering wedding cake rolled his eyes, sticking a finger into the blue icing to taste it. “Shame. It’s pretty good. I knew I should’ve asked someone else to be in charge of the cake.”

“It’s not your fault, man.” Dean scowled, not tearing his eyes away from the cloudless sky. “It’s _them_.”

Cas shrugged, nearly dropping the cake in the process. “We don’t know that for sure. It could just be a series of extremely coincidental events.” Dean snorted. “Wasn’t that a book series when we were kids?”

“Something like that, yes.” Cas averted his gaze with a shy smile, and Dean found himself staring at the specks of frosting splattered across his cheeks, the same bright color as the eyes above them. He cleared his throat, frowning at the thought. “Well, what are you going to do now? Can’t show up at a wedding with a cake like that.” Cas blushed.

“It’s...not actually a wedding.” He glanced back at the cake shop as if someone was listening. “My brother called me about an hour ago and told me my other brother had ordered a wedding cake yesterday when he was, uh, somewhat inebriated.”

“Doesn’t that place only stay open until five?” At Cas’s questioning gaze, he added, “My brother got married a few months ago. He should’ve given someone who didn’t work nights responsibility over the cake.”

Cas winced. “Yeah, well that’s Balthazar for you. Not that you would know, I mean…” he trailed off, but it was too late. It shook Dean back to reality, the statement too personal for casual conversation. This time had been worse than the others, where he’d been able to brush it off easily. He took a step back, blinking rapidly. “I- I have to get going, I’m sorry about the cake. See you around?”

Cas gave him a wry smile, raising his own eyes to the sky this time. “If they have their way, then yes, I guess so.”

 

* * *

 

That was the fifth time it had happened, and it wasn’t the last. Dean had switched his schedule around as erratically as possible, but it did nothing. He would show up at the grocery store right as Cas was walking out. He would go out to a movie and end up in the same theater as him. Once, he’d almost been late to a flight and run onto the plane only to be greeted by those same damn eyes next to the only empty seat besides the one in the last row with half the legroom. Dean swore he’d never go on a flight again if it meant sitting in that row (not to mention he wasn’t a huge fan of flying in the first place).

Wherever he went, Cas was there. The first few times, it could’ve been written off as coincidence. But now it had gone too far. Whatever divine presence was controlling their love lives was apparently invested in getting Dean and Cas together, in whatever way possible. Their paths crossed constantly, in increasingly strange scenarios.

It had taken Dean a while to realize that they were being set up in the most stereotypical ways imaginable. They’d played out every “meet-cute” storyline, from meeting in a coffee shop to catching each other’s eye on the sidewalk or a party to having to pull their curious dog away from the others’ legs at the park. The cake had just been a slightly more irritating development.

Since that day, Dean had walked past Cas in the pouring rain after he’d been kicked out of his girlfriend’s apartment. Cas had recognized him, but Dean had shaken his head and kept walking. Cas had nearly spilled everything from coffee to popcorn on Dean, blaming it on his clumsiness with a pink tint to his cheeks. Dean had tripped into Cas’s path more times than he could count, once almost falling down the escalator Cas was going up. Every time, they were in a random part of town, minding their own business and not expecting to see each other at all.

Things were starting to get a bit dangerous, and it just made Dean more certain that he needed to get as far away from Cas as possible and ignore all possible connections. He’d learned to avoid the name Novak, and he added Gabriel and Balthazar to the list after their next few conversations. He never went back to the coffee shops and movie theaters where they’d met, even avoided the main road in town where he’d almost hit Cas with the Impala as he crossed the street. The last thing he wanted was for either of them to get hurt, so he decided that staying away was the best option. If they weren’t near each other, they couldn’t get hurt by each other, right?

He struggled to believe that when other things started happening to him. Every date he had with someone else ended poorly in one way or another. A drink spilled, a last-minute cancelation, an accidental slip with the wrong name in bed, a carsick journey, a surprise tornado warning at a baseball game. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, and it made Dean furious. Nobody would believe it was more than just bad luck, but he knew it was.

He had no idea whether Cas was struggling with the same problems, but he could imagine he was. He started going out less, on dates and just outside in general. Sam called him paranoid, but Dean ignored him. He bought groceries as late at night as possible, filled up at the gas station in the early hours of the morning, arrived at work at the wrong time most days after taking a different route.

And it worked. He only saw Cas once or twice in the following weeks, where they would nod at each other and continue on their way. The last time their paths crossed, Cas looked absolutely disheveled– tie askew, normally finely-pressed trench coat rumpled, eye bags darker than Dean had ever seen them, his unruly hair...well, still messy. That part probably wouldn’t ever change.

Dean probably hadn’t looked much better, sitting behind the wheel of his car in unwashed jeans and a tee shirt that probably had a hole in the armpit. He’d scowled and turned down the next side road, his theory confirmed. Cas was having just as much shitty luck as he was, thanks to whatever curse (as he now thought of it) had decided to place itself on them.

Finally, he saw his chance to escape for good. Eileen, Sam’s girlfriend– _wife_ , now; he still had to correct himself on that– was from the West coast, where she’d met Sam at Stanford. Dean now lived in Massachusetts, after going to university and getting a job in Boston. He’d seen them in their California apartment a few times, flying across the country for their engagement party and wedding before the whole Cas situation had stopped him. Now, the young couple were about to embark on a belated honeymoon, delayed due to the need to work for a few months to get their finances in order. They’d both had decent scholarships to college, but the weight of student loans was still hanging heavy over their heads.

Sam had called Dean the other day when he was at home alone, binge-watching a new show on Netflix and eyeing the empty pizza box on the table with regret. He’d asked if Dean could come and watch the apartment while they were gone, since there was always a risk of break-ins in the area. Dean argued that he couldn’t leave his own apartment for that long, but before long Sam had convinced him to let Benny take care of it for the week, to get him out of the house he was currently sharing with two poor excuses for roommates. It should’ve been a win-win for Dean– he’d get someone to watch his sad, small Boston apartment while he stayed in the much nicer one-bedroom, blissfully alone and far away from coworkers, friends, enemies, and Cas.

That didn’t mean he’d be on vacation, of course. But it would be easy to request a week of working from “home”; all he’d need to bring was his computer and he’d be set. But that was exactly the problem: it was _too_ easy.

Benny “just happened” to be available that week. The plane tickets “just happened” to be a reasonable price. Dean “just happened” to not have any commitments to friends or coworkers planned. Sam “just happened” to have all the right arguments to convince him to go. Well, maybe that last one was just Sam. He _was_ a lawyer now, after all.

And that’s how Dean found himself in an airport for the first time since the Cas incident, eyes furtively glancing around to make sure there wouldn’t be a repeated event. But he caught no glimpses of tan trenchcoats or messy brown hair in the terminal, and once he was settled on the plane (in a seat that thankfully had a generous amount of legroom), he allowed himself to relax.

Until the plane took off, of course. He was honestly quite surprised he didn’t manage to leave fingerprint-sized dents in the armrests.

* * *

Castiel slouched on the sofa, staring at the television blankly. He felt empty inside, drained of any motivation. He hadn’t seen either of his brothers since the Cake Incident, as his brain had labeled it. That had been a few weeks ago.

He just couldn’t make himself do _anything_ . The fear of something happening with Dean again was enough to glue him to the couch. He’d already embarrassed himself _so much_ over the past weeks; he couldn’t bear to see what the universe had in store for him next.

Denying it and continuing on with his life was the easiest option, but it became harder and harder to do. He was starting to believe Dean, despite himself, but it still didn’t make any sense that what was happening was more than mere coincidence.

Whatever it was, neither of them wanted it to be happening. That was clear enough, in the fact they didn’t even know each other and Dean, at least, had no intention of changing that. Cas wouldn’t be surprised if Dean hated him at this point, with the way their lives had been messed with. Why wouldn’t he? Cas had once even accidentally crashed one of his dates with a girl, in a bar that Gabriel had dragged him to for the night. He was literally ruining Dean’s love life _entirely_ without meaning to, and it _sucked_.

Cas hadn’t even tried dating after that. He felt so guilty knowing what he was doing to Dean that he hadn’t dared to venture back into the dating world.

“Maybe he’s your soulmate,” Gabriel had joked, poking him in the ribs as he spoke. “The universe is totally trying to push you two together! It’s obvious, and you’re just too damn stubborn to believe it.” Cas had rolled his eyes. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you about this. Don’t make something out of nothing, Gabe.”

“No, seriously!” he protested, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. “Someone up there was like ‘hey, this average-looking guy is lonely and miserable, let’s get him a man! An insanely attractive man!’”

“I don’t think I said _insanely_ attractive–”

“Oh come on! If you have the opportunity to keep being an idiot in front of him, take it! And maybe work on being less of an idiot, if you get the chance to tear your eyes away from that perfectly chiseled jawline.”

“ _Gabe_.”

“Alright, alright. But Cas…” he stared at his brother pointedly. “You need to get out, man. You can’t hide inside forever.”

Cas shrugged. _Watch me._

“Dude, no. First of all, take a shower, you stink. I can’t let you hibernate in here when you look like a hungover college professor.”

* * *

  
For the first time in weeks, Castiel Novak and Dean Winchester didn’t see each other once. Days passed, and Cas started venturing out of his apartment again. All the way across the country, Dean finally let himself sleep in. He woke up alone, hours after Cas was already on his way to work in the city.

Of course, there were still moments where Dean thought he’d just bumped into his strange acquaintance, but it always turned out to be just another stranger. Cas looked carefully at the faces of every customer as he bagged their items, to be sure that none of them were familiar. They weren’t.

Cas and Dean could have led their whole lives like this, as blissfully unaware of the other’s existence as they had been before they’d met on that fateful day. If only their luck had held up, they might have been able to.

* * *

 

A week after Dean left for California, Cas got a call. His publisher wanted to talk to him about the newest manuscript he’d received a month ago... _in person_.

He didn’t know why it made him so uneasy. He was nervous, of course; he’d barely ever spoken to his own publisher before, crazy as it sounded. They mostly corresponded through emails and texts, with Cas sending him manuscripts that were passed on to editors. The only reason he even _had_ a publisher and editors was that Balthazar apparently had friends in high places.

But that was exactly why he couldn’t say no. Besides, a little voice in his head said, there would be a zero percent chance of bumping into Dean if he was thousands of miles away from Boston.

Three days later, Cas was moving through security at Logan Airport and boarding his flight to Sacramento.


	2. Chapter 2

**_But I'm yours and you're mine, if you like it or not._ **

**~**

 

Dean was having the time of his life. Santa Rosa was beautiful, he had to admit. When Sam had first told him about buying an apartment here, he’d been surprised that his brother had picked a place like this to settle down. But it made sense to him, now that he’d seen it.

Realistically, Sam and Eileen probably wouldn’t be able to afford to live here forever. But for now, until they decided whether or not they were ready to start a family, it worked. And for Dean, well, it was a nice excuse for a vacation.

The week ended far too early. He’d been so free of stress from work and Cas that the days had flown by, until it was time to make the long drive back to the airport. It was a little disconcerting, really, not having to worry about bumping into Castiel here. He hoped that the other man felt the same, and wasn’t feeling the consequences of Dean’s actions. The logical part of him argued that there wouldn’t be any consequences because _Dean, you do realize there_ **_isn’t_ ** _some sort of supernatural force trying to push you two together, right?_

But he couldn’t help the swirling feeling in his gut that he was doing something wrong, that this was the wrong way to go about this. He felt bad for trying to avoid Cas and pretending he didn’t want to know more about him.

Distracted by his thoughts all the way to the airport, he barely even noticed when he arrived in Sacramento. He thanked the taxi driver and wandered through the doors, unsure if he could retrace his steps from a week ago.

Eventually, he made it through security, and soon he was walking towards the gate with a fast food burger and soda in his hands. He’d ended up being early, for once, and there was never any point in waiting without food.

The gate wasn’t overly crowded, thankfully, and Dean sighed as he sat down a few seats away from a young businesswoman typing rapidly on her phone. He unwrapped the burger and smiled despite the fact that a) he was about to fly on a plane, _again_ and b) he had to go home and back to real life and c) _who the hell smiles at their friggin’ cheeseburger?_

Apparently, Dean Winchester. He shrugged and started eating.

* * *

After the rush of lining up to board, Dean walked down the jet bridge, his footsteps echoing to remind him that he was, in fact, many feet off of the ground. He swallowed and gripped his luggage tighter until he stepped over the terrifying gap onto the plane. He swore it was wider than last time.

Glancing between his ticket and the labeled rows, he made his way down the aisle. A little girl stopped in front of him and was pulled out of the aisle by her father; when Dean looked up again, he stopped in his tracks.

It couldn’t be. No. He was thousands of miles away. He was all the way across the entire fricking _country_.

And yet there he was.

Somebody poked Dean in the back, and he mumbled an apology and kept moving, checking the seat numbers and praying, praying that it wouldn’t be, it _couldn’t_ be…

Row 26, Seat F. It was unoccupied, as expected. Dean never usually went for the middle seat, but he’d bought the tickets too late to have another option. Nobody was in the aisle yet, which hopefully meant he could snag it instead.

But there was already somebody in Seat D, staring absently out the window. Dean looked around and sighed in defeat. The plane was filling up with people; there wouldn’t be any empty seats. Maybe he could keep going to the back and see if there was any others open…

But then Castiel turned around, and it was too late. Dean belatedly tried to give him a light smile as he dropped his bag onto the last seat and moved out of the aisle. His blood pounded in his ears. Had Cas noticed him looking for another seat?

“Long time no see, huh?” he said weakly. Blue eyes considered him for a moment before softening and crinkling at the corners.

“Hey, Dean.” Dean plopped down into the middle seat. It was the closest they’d ever been, he realized as soon as he sat down. He heard a sharp intake of breath that told him Cas had just realized it too.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, should I?” He turned to meet Cas’s eyes, which was his first mistake. _Shit. I forgot he’s hot_. He cleared his throat and shifted his legs to make sure he’d left enough room between them.

“I guess not,” Cas replied in a similar tone. “Where are you coming from?” He was taking a risk, asking Dean outright for more personal information. But for once, there was no hesitation from either of them.

“Santa Rosa. My...my brother, Sam, he went to Stanford, y’know, ‘cause he’s a genius and everything, and bought an apartment here. I was watching it while he was on his honeymoon. You?”

“Walnut Creek. My publisher wanted to meet with me to talk about one of my manuscripts.” A pause. “I’m an author.”

Dean nodded. “I’m...a few different things.” He shrugged and looked towards the passengers still boarding the plane, but he could still feel Cas staring at him.

“Like what?”

“Well, I’m a business owner, but I do some other things on the side. Ever heard of the Roadhouse?” He hadn’t looked back, but he could sense the surprise in Castiel.

“Yeah, of course I know the Roadhouse. Best burgers in Boston.” Finally, Dean turned around, a look of his own surprise on his face. “Best? Really?”

“At least, I think so.” Dean rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “Oh. Well thanks. I make them myself on the weekends, actually. The Winchester Special.”

“I had no idea! I never saw you there. But then, I guess after I met you…”

“Didn’t go out much either, did you?”

“Mhmm.” A moment of silence stretched between them, until they both started at the sudden announcement that they were about to close the doors. Dean gulped and gripped his side of the armrests, the other hand clenched in a fist in his lap.

“Not a fan of flying?” Cas observed casually, but he could see how tense Dean was. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I think so,” Dean breathed. “I mean, I made it here, right? Now I just gotta make it back.” It seemed easy enough, but the closer the plane got to the runway, the more turbulent his stomach became.

Cas noticed Dean was becoming a bit paler than usual. He opened his mouth, not sure if he should say something.

“Tell me about yourself.” Dean squeezed his eyes shut, and was about to respond when the plane’s engines started revving.

“Okay,” Cas continued. “I’ll start, then. I have two brothers, Gabriel and Balthazar. I think I told you about them before, right? Balthazar was the one who ordered that stupid cake. I still have no idea why he did that, you know…”

His voice grew steadier as he spoke, and eventually Dean told Cas about his own family through gritted teeth, hands unclenching as the plane took off and rose into the air. Both of them barely felt their stomachs drop as they rose into the air, too absorbed in conversation.

* * *

As the plane made its way back to Boston, Cas’s publisher closed his laptop back in Walnut Creek with a smile. It had been difficult, especially on Dean’s part, but he’d done it.

With a groan, Chuck got up out of his chair and went to get some more coffee. He deserved it, after all that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? This was started randomly because I was procrastinating on my longfic, so I'm sorry that it's not as fleshed out as it could be. Hopefully it's not too bad, I didn't edit a ton because I just wanted to get this out to you guys. I thought it was an interesting idea to explore, even if it's basically just a crack fic :p
> 
> Stay tuned for the longfic btw, I'm trying my best not to abandon it and I swore to finish it before I started posting chapters. See you soon!


End file.
